Travis Hoium
Motley Fool Analyst, Author of Asymmetric Investing
Autonomy could expand the ride market tenfold, giving Uber a long growth runway if it does. That is the true 10x opportunity, like ridesharing's expansion of the taxi market. Uber will be a $1 trillion company by 2035. Improved autonomous-vehicle margins are possible but uncertain. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Uber will be one of those disruption stories that later looks silly, because disruption is not showing up in the numbers and it is unclear how it would work. An AI agent such as Meta's Muse matching riders with drivers does not replace the network Uber runs. Uber's power may diminish, but it will not be less relevant in a decade. x.comÂ
Uber's trips could keep growing even without a Waymo partnership because the ride-hail market may expand faster than Waymo takes share. Based on estimated inputs and Waymo's reported fleet plans, every modeled scenario has Uber trips growing, though its US trip share falls from about 73% to 69% by Q4 2028 in the target case. The model excludes take rate, pricing and Uber's AV capex. x.comÂ
Uber is one of the most interesting opportunities in the market, down 31% from its highs while printing more cash. The market treats it as a low-margin business that autonomous driving could disrupt, missing its real moat: distribution. A network of consumers, drivers and merchants is very hard to replicate and lets it add verticals without paying acquisition costs again. Uber also owns about 13% of Grab, down 85% and building financial services on the same model. x.comÂ
Uber cannot be owned until its robotaxi strategy and economics are clearer, including whether it stays asset-light or pivots to asset-heavy. Calling it 10 times 2027 free cash flow may be unfair if an asset-heavy pivot sends that cash into capex. Google puts global ridesharing at $150-180 billion in gross bookings a year, reaching $200 billion by decade's end, likely not big enough for Waymo, Tesla and Uber to all win while each spends tens of billions on fleets. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Uber's network effects could make it the app robotaxi fleets need to keep their cars fully operational. It is one of the best platforms on earth and a five-year buy at today's valuation, with opportunity too compelling to pass up despite shares falling about 25% in the past year on robotaxi fears. Bookings grew 24% last quarter and trailing free cash flow exceeded $10 billion. Waymo and Tesla could choose to bypass Uber; Waymo already runs its own app in most of its cities. x.comÂ
Uber's network could become more important in an autonomous world, not less, which the market underestimates. Robotaxi fleets will still need someone to aggregate demand, optimize utilization, route supply, handle payments and bring liquidity to both sides, and Uber already has those layers plus relationships in almost every major city as autonomy rolls out market by market. The chart is ending a two-year $50-80 consolidation above its prior breakout zone. x.comÂ
Uber cannot compete long term on two of the three things that win consumer markets: product quality and price. Distribution alone will not carry it, though it should keep growing for the next three years because transitions take time. That qualifies @oguzerkan's view that distribution is king and will protect Uber from Tesla and Waymo. x.comÂ
Uber can still win even if Tesla's Cybercab leads, because self-driving overall will be a massive money maker and a rising tide lifts all ships. x.comÂ
Uber is the toll booth on urban movement: while the market debates whether robotaxis kill it, every autonomous player keeps partnering with Uber for its demand network. Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow topped $10 billion for the first time, with gross bookings up 22%. x.comÂ
Uber looks rather negative because driver reclassification, consumer cutbacks and easy switching threaten its business. Making drivers employees could raise costs and push ride prices up around 40%. Food delivery and comfort rides are cut when budgets tighten; riders switch to Lyft or Bolt for a few euros. Tesla or Waymo could bypass Uber with their own apps, and Google can scale quickly. Despite being a great company, Uber has too many unknowns; it is preferable to stay on the sidelines. x.comÂ
Uber's asset-light platform makes it a direct winner of autonomous driving, because AV operators can't match its network's dispatch efficiency. AV rides on Uber grew over 10x year over year in Q1 2026, with launches in up to 15 cities by end-2026, and Waymo partners rather than competes. Its 200M+ monthly users cut empty miles, and human drivers add elastic capacity. It made about $9.8B of 2025 free cash flow, Q1 bookings rose 21% to $53.7B, and buying Delivery Hero could lift bookings to $160B. … Show more
